glades club: a semi-secret semi-private bar in homestead

A friend of mine heard of Glades Club talking to a man who'd probably taken down half a bottle of Jameson singlehandedly at Little Hoolies in Kendall, the day after Hurricane Irma. Or maybe it was the week after. It was a confusing time.

When you get a tip from a drunk about another place to get drunk cheap, you don't ignore it. So we piled in the car, just days (or maybe it was weeks, really, who knows - it was No Rule Life) and drove down to Homestead to explore a place that was described as "a members-only club in Homestead." We had to see the Soho House of Homestead for ourselves.

Turns out, there's a bit of a loophole for this so-called membership. It's a system that was devised to avoid a liquor license wherein you give them your ID and buy a beer and they give you a membership card. Voila! You're a member for life at Glades Club.

Let me set the scene: there's a Dolphins game playing on the speakers on full blast. Locals sit at the bar. They seem to all know the bartender's name. You can smoke inside. There are pool tables. A jute box. Framed front pages from newspapers that have long been defunct. And a backyard with a giant tiki hut and a confederate flag. You know, I don't know. But, I do know it was worth the drive and the beer and now I'm a member for life.